


Postcards from Asia

by Sholio



Category: Iron Fist (TV)
Genre: F/M, Getting Back Together, Love Letters, Post-Season/Series 02, Postcards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 21:09:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18454679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: Danny's sprawling handwriting sent a jolt of familiar bittersweet pain through her chest, the way so many things around the former dojo did these days.





	Postcards from Asia

**Author's Note:**

> I actually started writing this right after finishing season 2, but didn't get around to picking it back up to finish it 'til now. I'm currently on a "finish all the WIPs!" kick, so hopefully there will be a few more fics coming soon.

Colleen found the first postcard in her letterbox when she went down to collect the mail, her morning cup of tea in hand. The card showed a busy city street scene, with "Hong Kong" written in English in a curly brush font, and repeated in hanzi underneath. 

She sat down on the step and flipped it over. Danny's sprawling handwriting sent a jolt of familiar bittersweet pain through her chest, the way so many things around the former dojo did these days -- everything carried its load of sweet-painful memories. She had to close her eyes and take a few steadying sips of her cooling tea. Then, as the cold wind of a New York winter ruffled her hair and the tea went stone cold on the step next to her, she read the words scribbled on the back in blue ballpoint ink.

_Hi, Colleen. I thought you might want to know we landed okay. Me meaning me and Ward._

What the hell, she thought, he took Ward with him? She hadn't been in touch with the Meachums since Danny had left; the fact that she was no longer living with Danny also meant no longer having to deal with awkward in-law situations. Still, that certainly put an odd new spin on Danny's round-the-world finding-himself tour.

_Ward says hi, by the way. Oh, Colleen, Hong Kong is amazing. We should've taken the time to get over that way when we were in the area, though I guess we were a little too busy to see the sights. I can't talk much more about what we're doing here, except to say that I'm fine and I think about you a lot._

The card was signed simply "Danny," and underneath that, a couple of characters in what she recognized as ancient Tibetan from the scroll -- probably the way he would have signed his name in K'un Lun.

Showoff, she thought. She glanced at the postmark. It had taken two weeks to make it overseas to her, so there was no telling where Danny (and Ward, she still couldn't get over that) had moved on to. But she savored the fond, sweet ache, and pinned the postcard to the fridge with a Covenant House magnet, where she could look at it occasionally.

 

***

 

The next postcard arrived a couple of weeks later. This one showed a temple with a praying Buddha statue and was postmarked Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

_Hey Colleen! Look where we are! Remember when we went to the hilltop temple and the river promenade here? It's still just as beautiful._

Yes, I also remember almost getting killed by sword-wielding maniacs, she thought wryly. It was the flowers that she remembered best, though. He'd woven a flower crown with a few deft twists of his fingers, and placed it on her head and looked at her like she was a princess. She touched her hair, twisted back in a sloppy ponytail and still sweat-damp from a morning's katana practice.

_Could you do me a favor, please? If you kept my things, and I understand completely if you didn't, there should be a set of brushes and inks in a lacquered box. Can you mail them to the below address, please? It's a long story but we need them. Thank you!_

Of course she still had his things. She hadn't really done much separating of "his" and "hers" except to put most of the things that were very definitely Danny's into the closet so she didn't have to look at them all the time. She hadn't even gotten around to figuring out what to do with his clothes. It would be nice to have the extra closet space if he wasn't planning on coming back, but then she would get busy with something else and conveniently "forget."

After dropping off the package for Danny at the post office, she brought the card along to her weekly drink'n'bitch with Misty. This time it was her turn to ride uptown to Harlem.

"I'm giving him 50 points for writing to you," Misty said, holding the card up to the light, "and minus 10,000 points for only writing to you when he needs something."

"It's actually the second card. He sent me one when he got his feet under him in Hong Kong."

"Oh really? Hong Kong and now Cambodia. Boy gets around, does he?"

"Want to put odds on where the next one will come from?"

"I'm not taking that action, sugar. This girl wasn't born yesterday."

 

***

 

The next postcard came a couple of weeks later. It showed a city high-rise skyline and was postmarked Kuala Lumpur. The writing was oddly crooked and a little bit sideways.

_Hey Colleen! I thought you might have seen the Kuala Lumpur warehouse explosion and dock fire on the news --_

Oh sure, she thought. Because I totally pay attention to all the news from Malaysia while I'm trying to stop what's left of the triads and the petty criminals who have moved into the power vacuum and keep tearing up my city.

_\-- but I figured I'd better drop you a card to let you know we're fine. Thinking about you!_

This card had an addendum in a completely different hand, tiny neat writing that she had never seen before, but could easily recognize without even needing to read the signature. The neat, crabbed writing ran around the outside of the card.

_For values of 'fine' that include breaking his arm and needing 22 stitches. It's more accurate to say that he's GOING to be okay. Which I tell you not to worry you but simply to let you know that I have a lot of sympathy with what you've been putting up with for the last year. -Ward._

Colleen sighed heavily, stuck it up on the fridge with the others, and googled "Kuala Lumpur fire." The results were not comforting, although she noted there were no fatalities.

 

***

 

The next card came from the Philippines and was written in the small, tidy handwriting of the previous card's note.

_Colleen, hi. Danny is dictating this card because the dipshit broke both his arms this time and can't hold a pen. Please don't ask. However, he needs his immunization records and birth certificate. The former are apparently in the things he left at your place. The latter is in a safe deposit box in the Rand vault. Just tell my assistant Katie who you are and she'll hook you up. See address below. Overnight if possible. Rand will pay. -Ward_

_P.S. While you're at it, could you send the design specs for the Rand brace we used when Danny broke his leg that time? Talk to Katie._

I am going to strangle them both, Colleen thought.

She had plenty to bitch about at the drink'n'bitch that week.

"-- swear to God he's going to get himself killed. I knew this was going to happen, I _knew_ it. Ward is worse than useless. The two of them together don't have the common sense of a box of pencil shavings. And the lag time with the mail is the worst part. Who knows what stupid, preventable disaster they're causing right now?"

Misty smothered a grin behind her hand. "You could call him if you really want to know."

Colleen sighed and motioned for another beer. "I don't even know if he still has his phone."

"If he doesn't, I'll bet tall, dark and sassy does. There's no way that one is going to be out of touch for too long."

"Great. So I can call Ward Meachum and ask him to put the phone on speaker so I can yell at Danny. That's not awkward or anything."

She didn't call. But she thought about it.

 

***

 

It wasn't that she checked her mailbox every day hoping for something from Danny. She was too busy to even think about it much, most of the time. But still there was that hopeful little lift as she sorted out the bills and junk mail on the table, and a tiny drop in her stomach every time it was nothing but bills and circulars and credit card statements.

And then, three days after her birthday (but postmarked two weeks before, in Sapporo), there was a box wrapped in brown paper.

She unwrapped it at the table with a glass of wine at hand. Under the brown wrapping was a beautiful green and gold lacquered box. When she opened it, a note was folded neatly on top of something that shimmered green with gold threads. Colleen set the note aside and took out a soft, folded package that unfolded into a green and gold silk kimono. Her breath caught; it was gorgeous.

The note was written in Japanese. With affectionate amusement, she noticed that Danny's calligraphy was just as careless and borderline illegible in Japanese as in English. He must have driven his tutors in K'un Lun up the wall.

_Dear Colleen,_  
Happy birthday. I saw this and it made me think of you.  
Love, Danny 

It fit her perfectly. She stared at herself in the mirror and the silken fabric hugged her like a caress.

_Danny, you idiot. You sweet, darling idiot._

She got out her phone, let out a quiet breath, and wrote a text.

_**I got the kimono. It's lovely and a perfect fit. Here, visual proof.** _

And before she could talk herself out of it, she snapped a quick selfie and texted it to him.

She wasn't expecting an immediate response, but one came, not five minutes later.

_**It's beautiful! You're beautiful! Thanks for texting! Hey, do you want to see where we are right now?** _

He didn't wait for a response, because the next text that came in was a picture of glittering water and a stone railing and a slightly annoyed-looking Ward in the foreground, squinting into the camera over the remains of what she guessed was probably breakfast.

_**Where are you?**_ she asked. _**Say hi to Ward for me btw.**_

_**Still in Japan,**_ the answer came back. _**Okinawa now. It's really pretty. Ward says hi back. I'm glad you like the kimono.**_

She hesitated, feeling only the tiniest bit guilty -- but he _had_ walked out, and he _was_ loaded ... _**The kimono's pretty, but it's also too nice for everyday. If you want to send me something, you know what I'd really like? I loved that pink tiger jacket I used to have, before I got blood all over it. Think you could find me something like that?**_

_**Yes, sure! I'll start looking right away!!!!!!** _

The six exclamation points were probably overkill, but she found herself grinning, completely and helplessly. Shit, she'd _really_ missed having that dynamo of golden-retriever enthusiasm in her life.

 

***

 

"I wish _I_ had a rich boyfriend who liked to buy me things," was Misty's comment when Colleen showed up wearing her new pink silk jacket with an embroidered dragon on the back.

Colleen hoped she wasn't blushing. Maybe the pink of the jacket would distract from the pink of her face. "He likes buying everybody things. Tell him what colors you like and he'll get you one too."

"I notice you didn't argue about the boyfriend part. Does this mean you're officially back together?"

"We were never officially _not_ together," Colleen protested, waving the bartender over for a beer. "It was just kind of a ... a break."

"Breaktime's over and now it's booty call time?"

"Misty!"

"Oh, don't tell me you haven't been looking up tickets."

"I have not," Colleen said firmly, which was technically true only because Danny had told her that anytime she wanted to come over, all she had to do was call Katie at Rand and ask for for the Rand jet.

Misty nudged Colleen's arm with her beer bottle. "You know, people get to take vacations. Even superheroes get vacations."

"Oh, yeah? When was the last time _you_ had one?"

Misty laughed. "If _my_ rich boyfriend invited me overseas, I'd be off so fast I'd leave tracks in the air like a Looney Tunes character."

"Oh yeah? Come with me, then."

"What?" Misty said, stopping the bottle near her lips and then lowering it.

"Come with me." Saying it again confirmed the rightness of it. "We'll fly to wherever the hell they are now -- it was Okinawa last I knew, but it doesn't even really matter, does it? Have you been to anywhere at all in East Asia before?"

"It hasn't really come up, I gotta admit, but don't you mind having a third wheel crash your reunion party?"

" _Ward Meachum_ is going to be crashing the reunion party," Colleen felt compelled to point out. "You won't be a third wheel, you'll be a fourth wheel." She grimaced. "That doesn't sound the same. Anyway, the point is, I wouldn't mind having someone else to sightsee with. Someone to complain to when I start hearing all the details of their desperately stupid adventures so I don't actually wring Danny's adorable neck. We can have girls' days out and then meet the boys for --"

"A booty call?"

"Your words, not mine. I was going to say date night."

"So, just to reiterate," Misty said as the waiter dropped off Colleen's drink. "You're inviting me halfway around the world so I can act as a buffer between you and your slightly estranged boyfriend and his long-lost, weirdly hot brother that you can't stand."

"Well, okay, _fine_ , when you put it that way --"

"Just say when," Misty declared, and took a swig of her beer. 

"Seriously, I don't want to impose," Colleen began, with the sinking sensation that she might have made a terrible mistake.

"I have plenty of vacation coming to me now that I've been promoted, you know. Perks of the new job."

"You really don't mind."

"The more I think about it, the more I think I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Can I _pay_ you to stay here?"

"Nope," Misty said cheerfully. "Asia, here we come. I gotta pack. Don't forget to bring your sword."


End file.
